2020/03/31 by Oleksii Maistrenko, O. Maistrenko, Benedikt Scharf +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Josephson effect #MAJORANA #Magnetic field #Magnetization #Physics #Pi Josephson junction #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.103.054508
published as Phys. Rev. B 103, 054508 (2021) · 17 pages, 8 figures, revised manuscript
openalex publication_date 2021/02/17 · arxiv created 2021/03/08 · arxiv updated 2021/03/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Josephson junctions based on three-dimensional topological insulators offer intriguing possibilities to realize unconventional p-wave pairing and Majorana modes. Here, we provide a detailed study of the effect of a uniform magnetization in the normal region: We show how the interplay between the spin-momentum locking of the topological insulator and an in-plane magnetization parallel to the direction of phase bias leads to an asymmetry of the Andreev spectrum with respect to transverse momenta. If sufficiently large, this asymmetry induces a transition from a regime of gapless, counterpropagating Majorana modes to a regime with unprotected modes that are unidirectional at small transverse momenta. Intriguingly, the magnetization-induced asymmetry of the Andreev spectrum also gives rise to a Josephson Hall effect, that is, the appearance of a transverse Josephson current. The amplitude and current phase relation of the Josephson Hall current are studied in detail. In particular, we show how magnetic control and gating of the normal region can enable sizable Josephson Hall currents compared to the longitudinal Josephson current. Finally, we also propose in-plane magnetic fields as an alternative to the magnetization in the normal region and discuss how the planar Josephson Hall effect could be observed in experiments.